Petrol Mica BMW E36 318iS M Sport

[HuH]

Since the last time I posted only boring stuff has happened. Tedious little tinkering and a bit of eating.



I put the coilovers in and lowered it some. It is still too high. This dark photo is all I've brought myself to take. Got excited today because I thought for sure the BBS must be close, but they're still the best part of six weeks away. Really can't be bothered lowering it until they're on.



Did shed mods with my old man and built some shelves. Hellafunctional. Still not enough room to really work on the car in there but it's better than before.



Lost a parking ticket down the front between the dash and windshield. Fished it out using a ruler and some double sided mounting tape. I was stoked. Found some other old junk down there too looking like it's been sitting there for yeeeears.



Really wanted one of these E30 M3 style 'mushroom' shift knobs but they're pretty rare in leather like this one. Ended up ordering a kinda povo spec rubber one with the same emblem because the shape feels a lot better to me.



Found this sick German buddy on the streets of Sydney with weird tray converted rear end.



And these cool plates on some more German artillery.



Had a massive schnitzel feed that would've put me in hospital with that much cheese had I finished it.



Picked up black/black badges because I like the look.



On Saturday I went to find some replacement speakers at a wrecker but how stupid is this mounting system? It's no wonder they all crack and break. I grabbed some later model ones which are slightly smaller diameter but use the threaded mount. I have an idea for using them that should look neat and last longer.

Couple of other maintenance things in the works, replaced aircon panel because mine was looking shabby. Ordered replacement rubber gasket things for the door handles since they always split. More updates to come in a little while hopefully. Car needs an epic detail ASAP.

[HuH]

I'll preface this post by saying that I loathe washing cars. On Thursday a mate and I spent almost seven hours detailing the BMW. Never thought it would take that long, we started around midday and didn't finish until well after dark. Not the best as far as lighting is concerned but the results were worth it.



This was what we started with after a couple of buckets of water were thrown over it. I've had the car for a couple of months and it hasn't been washed once. The paint was pretty badly swirled but overall in good nick, so the aim was to bring it back to former glory using whatever we already had and any free cleaning products we'd managed to lift from the office at work.



I forgot to get close ups of the swirls, but you can kinda tell that it was in dire need of a good once over. We started by rinsing it all down with water, then gave it a two bucket wash using this kraut shampoo called 1Z Perls. I got it free with a set of wheels but highly recommend it now that I've tried it. After that we clay barred it using Meguiar's Quik Clay and Juice Show 'n Shine as lubricant.



This photo above was after clay barring as we started polishing. We used Meguiar's SwirlX to polish it and Mothers Carnauba Wax afterwards.



Sometime later this was the result. Back in black!



It's not perfect but a massive improvement. I'd like to get a professional to detail it at some stage to do a more thorough job of removing swirls and scratches.



It's so smooth to the touch now, I love it. Such a lot of effort for results that will quickly fade but I guess that's washing cars for you.



The next morning I used Meguiar's Ultimate Protectant on the side strips to get them black again. Could've been better though.



Close up of the paint in the sun. Love this colour.



And there we have it!

[HuH]

Been a while. Some stuff has happened.

My wheels arrived from Japan yesterday. Actually one of them was delivered last Thursday but the other three were MIA until yesterday. Weird.



They need a good clean up, but they're straight and very little rash, etc. If I can get all the junk cleaned off I'll paint the inside of the barrels black.



I'm going for 205/45/17 tyres. It seems most people with 17x8+20 Style 5s go for those or 215/40s. These BBS are just ever so slighty lower in offset at 17x8+15 so I'm going with a tiny bit less tyre width and a little more sidewall height. I've got a 7mm spacer which I might try to slip on the rear once the guards are rolled. See how we go.

I got an E30 M3 mushroom type gear shifter thingo.



I put black and white BMW roundels on too but I haven't taken any photos of the car since then.

Some interior shots. Alcantara life.



'90s BMW dash looking the same as '80s BMW dash and '00s BMW dash. If it ain't broke?



Put in a new Sony head unit with variable display so I could get my shit matching. It's all in the details or something.



Did some arts and crafts. The goal was to make up little gasket type things to let me install the smaller, later type tweeters in the doors.



It worked pretty well after a couple of goes. The outer diameter of the rings I made up is the same as the old speakers.



This is one of the damaged speakers, you can see the cracked off bit up the top.



And this is how it looks now with the new tweeter and adapter ring thingo. Not bad, the imperfections are hard to see in person.



Unfortunately all the glue holding the door panel together dried up. Really common thing, all other E36 dudes will know the feel. I stuck it back together with a hot glue gun.



I also changed the door handle seals because it's easy with the door panels off. It looked like this before.



But it looks like this now.



I'm all about those little things. Loving the car right now.

[HuH]

So I finally fitted tyres and got the wheels on today. It's been a long time coming.



I went with 205/45/17s. Camber on the front is maxed out, still some thread there to go lower. The rears are all the way down but I plan to take the adjuster ring out.







The rear scrubs on the stock guards so I'll get them rolled ASAP and drop it down front and back. Pretty happy with them. I've got a 7mm spacer to slip on the rear as well if I can fit it in there without too much guard work. We'll see.

[HuH]

This is the reason it's taken so long to get the wheels on:



Almost finished it, should be on the road in a couple of weeks.

[dDutch]

really nice bbs's man

[calibornn1979]

Those wheels are great! It's nice to see something other than th run of the mill style5s or rs's. And that color!

[244Brick]

I really like this. You shoukd swap the front tires for 40series

[96CD7]

nice bimmer

[bostongrnM3]

nice car man, all about them details

[dattugrut]

Love it. The small touches make the car.

[TeckniX]

Really cool details and nice to see you clean up the car as you add some stance.


I need specs on that bike, it's bloody nice looking. Especially that angle. Been wanting a similar one for a while.

[HuH]

Thanks a lot, dudes. Really appreciate the feedback.

I had the rear guards rolled this morning so things should get lower sometime this week.

I really like this. You shoukd swap the front tires for 40series

Yeah, I didn't think about that until afterwards. Might do that when these wear through.

I need specs on that bike, it's bloody nice looking. Especially that angle. Been wanting a similar one for a while.

Cheers, it's an '81 Yamaha XS250. Fair bit of custom work going on. Swing arm has been extended 2 inches, seat loop fabricated to suit the new seat, frame and wheels powdercoated, front forks lowered, new bars, new grips, new tyres, airbox delete, pipes chopped off, new indicators, new headlamp, new brake rotor etc.

Since then it's had new gauges added, new taillight, new mufflers, new chain, new tank badges, new clutch lever, new brake lever, fabbed battery box.. you get the idea.

[HuH]

Couple of things to update in here. I had the rear guards rolled after fitting the wheels then lowered it down as much as I could. I took the rear height adjuster out completely so it's just the spring in the back now. The front I wound down as low as the coilovers would allow but it's still a little high at the front which is something I want to fix.



Here's a few shots of it in the car park at work needing a wash.







It was fine like that for a few weeks, then I had some bad luck on the awkwardly shaped and steep driveway where I work.



A motorbike coming out at the same time meant I had to stop halfway across the ditch-like middle bit and take a sharper turn - this was the outcome. It was pretty bad, the photo doesn't show the extent of it. My guard roller bloke came back and did his best to straighten it out but the two front guards are both damaged and need actual panel/paint work.

I got a quote from the same place that did the accident repairs, their paint match was perfect and I trust their handiwork. I'll be taking it in to have the guards properly fixed up then the locking rings on the coilovers up front will be coming out to even up the drop.

Everything else on the car has been perfect, but there's a long list of things I still want to do.

[Swervin24]

The car is sitting nice! Those wheels came out to look good.